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AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS www.ahwatukee.com
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
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Ahwatukee Ready to learn site bid yields AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS SLOWING DOWN
$23M for TU
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BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLST NEWS IRONWOOD AUTHORS
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MULTIGEN HOMES (Kimberly Carrillo/AFN Photographer)
Abigail Lopez leads a bunch of her new classmates on the first day of school at Lomas Elementary, where she and the other kids are starting kindergarten. For a look at more scenes on the first day of school at Lomas, See page 22.
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
HOT PROSPECT
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LAND on page 18
Halt freeway work, opponents again ask court
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empe Union High School District is expecting a $23-million windfall and Ahwatukee residents could see a “new old-home neighborhood” after the district governing board approved the sale of a 63acre site in the community. The board last week unanimously approved the sale of the parcel on the southwest corner of Desert Foothills Parkway near Frye Road to Desert Vista 100, a subsidiary of Blandford Homes, a respected homebuilder in Arizona that touts higher-end luxury master-planned communities. The sales price – roughly $367,000 per acre – exceeded the district’s expectations. Earlier this year, officials said it would like yield between $13 million and $19 million.
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pponents of the South Mountain Freeway have asked an appellate court panel to prevent blasting and further bridge construction in the Ahwatukee segment of the controversial thoroughfare. Stating that blasting “will permanently destroy valuable aspects of the environment,” lead plaintiffs Ahwatukeebased Protect Arizona’s Resources and
KEYSTONE
MONTESSORI A Foundation for a Lifetime of Learning
Children and the Gila River Community filed the request last week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District. The court also set Oct. 19 for oral arguments on freeway opponents’ appeal from U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa’s July 2016 ruling that allowed the Arizona Department of Transportation and developer Connect2020Partners to begin work. The court already has rejected one request by opponents to halt construction while the appeal is being heard. There is no
time requirement for the court to act on the request to halt blasting. Jurists gave no indication when they might rule, especially since the government must first file a written answer to request. “I’m not overly optimistic about this one, but we had to try,” PARC President Pat Lawlis said in announcing the injunction request. “Blasting the foothills will definitely produce irreparable harm. Despite the fact that both sides concluded See
BLASTING on page 16
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